Three patients with congenital cardiac disease were recently admitted to the Ladnan hospital. All three patients require a heart surgery in which the patient's heart is swapped out for a donor heart. At Ladnan Hospital, the need for donor hearts is increasing, but the quantity of donor organs has stayed the same. Our hospital was only able to obtain one appropriate heart because of the ongoing shortage of donor hearts. (Nagji et al., 2010).
Therefore, a choice must be made as to which patient will receive the free heart and undergo operation. As the lead surgeon, I shall employ utilitarian ethics in making the decision on who gets the heart. Utilitarianism is a moral theory where a person acts in an ethically sound manner and strives to bring about the greatest possible amount of happiness for the greatest possible number of individuals (Mill, 1993). I shall consider the patients as the choices and the consequences of selecting them to arrive at a moral decision that leads to the greater good.
We verified that Jerry one of the patients is a family man with three teenagers and a jobless wife. Selecting him is traditionally acceptable since he is the breadwinner of his family. His present heart condition is because as a young person he used steroids for bodybuilding. Use of steroids is a socially unacceptable behavior. Thus, selecting him is inappropriate as it will bring a little happiness to the community. Choosing him for the heart transplant will only benefit his family and not the greater majority. Besides, Jerry is old and close to retirement. It would not be fair to give him a heart for him to only live for the next ten years.
Our second choice is Ozzy who is 38 years old. Ozzy has been homeless for more than a decade and has, therefore, resulted in abuse of drugs. His present heart condition is due to the overdose of cocaine. Giving him a heart would save his life since he cannot stay for a month without a heart. If he receives a heart, Ozzy has promised to engage in community work to help troubled teens stop abusing drugs. Selecting him will not be morally right since the use of cocaine violates cultural norms. It is likely that upon receiving a new heart, Ozzy will continue to abuse cocaine due to its addictive nature. Selecting him is inappropriate since he is risky and very likely to violate his contract in future.
The third choice is Lisa who is 12 years old and suffers from Lupus deficiency. Her present heart condition is due to Pneumonia. Lisa has experienced health issues for all her life and cannot survive into her 20s. If she receives the heart transplant, she will be happy as her disease burden will reduce. Also, her parents and especially her mom will be happy as she cannot bear more children. Lisa is their only hope for a child. Her father who is a highly regarded professional within the hospital will benefit and is likely to work harder. Besides, her parents will donate 2 million dollars for a hospital project. The project will benefit the entire community upon its completion. The hospital staff stands to profit from the new construction project. The possible harm to others resulting from the third choice is minimal. The third option is more valuable than the first and the second choices. The first and second options result in negative consequences and were therefore not selected.
References
Mill, J. S., & Williams, G. (1993). Utilitarianism; On Liberty; Considerations on Representative Government; Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy.
Nagji, A. S., Hranjec, T., Swenson, B. R., Kern, J. A., Bergin, J. D., Jones, D. R., ... & Ailawadi, G. (2010). Donor age is associated with chronic allograft vasculopathy after adult heart transplantation: implications for donor allocation. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 90(1), 168-175.
